FOX Sports to Present Live Coverage of Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) is partnering with FOX Sports to present live coverage and analysis of Sunday's G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe from Longchamp Racecourse in Paris.

Sunday's special broadcast will air on FS2 from 9:30-10:30 a.m. Eastern, with the €5 million (approximately $4.85 million) Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe for 3-year-olds & up going 1 1/2 miles on the turf featuring a bid by the 5-year-old Torquator Tasso (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) to become the ninth horse in history to win the race twice. At 72-1 odds, the German colt stunned the sports world in winning the 2021 race.

The race is part of the Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” Challenge Series with the winner earning automatic and free entry to the Breeders' Cup World Championships Nov. 4 and 5 at Keeneland Race Course. The winner of the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heads to the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf.

Post time for the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is set for 10:05 a.m. Eastern.

The post FOX Sports to Present Live Coverage of Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Seven Days: Triumph and Despair

There is a charming tradition for the large crowd at Baden-Baden races to applaud the runners as the field passes the post for the first time, never mind in the closing stages. For Sunday's racegoers, many of whom arrived with well-behaved dogs and sometimes less well-behaved children, the excitement level reached near-fever pitch as Frankie Dettori urged home German racing's current hero, Torquator Tasso (Ger). At the post the pair went down by just a head to the winner Mendocino (Ger), another son of Adlerflug (Ger) ridden by the man who knows the Arc winner better than anyone else, his regular jockey Rene Piechulek. 

The latter will now presumably be obliged to retain his partnership with the Longchamp-bound Mendocino, and Torquator Tasso's trainer Marcel Weiss acted swiftly to book Dettori for the 5-year-old's defence of the Arc as soon as his debrief was concluded. 

It was a dramatic denouement to the 152nd running of the Grosser Preis von Baden in a year when the racecourse had been planning to celebrate the great race's 150th anniversary until the realisation dawned that a miscount some 25 years ago meant that we have jumped straight from the 149th edition last year without a proper fanfare. That won't bother Mendocino's trainer Sarah Steinberg, owner Stall Salzburg and breeder Gestut Brummerhof, who rightly enjoyed this major breakthrough success for the 4-year-old who had previously come closest to winning at group level when finishing second to Alpinista (GB) in last year's G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern. 

And this drama was nothing compared to the awful scene played out only ten minutes earlier in Paris as Coroebus (Ire) suffered a fatal injury when launching his challenge in the G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. William Buick, the red-hot favourite to be Britain's champion jockey for this first time this year, stood himself down for the rest of the day but appears, thankfully, to have been relatively unscathed in the shocking fall for the 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace S. winner.

Dettori on the other hand received a 14-day ban for going one strike over the permitted whip-use limit on Torquator Tasso which, equally thankfully for him, ends just in time for the duo to renew their acquaintance in the Arc.

Hammer Time

One jockey who kept clear of drama and became well acquainted with the Baden-Baden winner's enclosure on Sunday was Thore Hammer-Hansen. Though currently British-based, Hammer-Hansen has in fact been well acquainted with the racecourse at Iffezheim for most of his life.

“Mum and Dad live at the six-furlong start and I used to go running round here all the time,” he explained after notching the first group win of his career in the G2 Oleander-Rennen for owner-breeder Karl-Dieter Ellebracke of Gestut Auenquelle aboard Dapango (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}). The 22-year-old jockey was joined on the presentation rostrum by his proud father, Danish-born Lennart, formerly a hugely successful jockey in Germany with more than 1,000 wins to his name.

“The whole family is here,” continued Thore, who was previously apprenticed to Richard Hannon and rode out his claim almost a year ago. “I've always said that I'd love to come over for the big races and Gestut Auenquelle have been great supporters from the very beginning, and I am absolutely delighted that they have called me over again. I'd love to come over as much as possible as long as Sir Mark Prescott and the other people I ride for in England are happy about it.”

Hammer-Hansen junior followed up his big-race success immediately when winning the following race on New Moon (Cze) for Jan Korpas, and later made it a treble when winning the Stadt Baden-Baden Cup on Fellow (Ger) for Dr Andreas Bolte.

Vandeberg Enjoying The Moment

Among the crowd was Torquator Tasso's breeder Paul Vandeberg who had made the trip to Iffezheim with two friends and is still pinching himself following the  triumphant return of the Arc winner's younger half-brother Tünnes (Ger) (Guiliani {Ger}) in the BBAG sales race at Baden-Baden on Wednesday. That victory for the 3-year-old came in his first run since he won the G3 Herzog von Ratibor-Rennen last November.

“I still cannot believe it, that he would come back like that after 10 months off the track,” said Vandeberg, a breeder of some 50 years' standing, as he reflected on the fact that his sole broodmare Tijuana (Ger) (Toylsome {GB}) has hit the jackpot twice already with her second and fourth foals.

“Sometimes you just have the luck,” he added. “And Tijuana is the most wonderful mare. Eight times I have sent her to be covered on foal heat, and eight times she has got in foal straight away.”

Vandeberg was not disheartened by Torquator Tasso's narrow defeat in the Grosser Preis and is already looking forward to him returning to Paris, where he believes the chance of softer ground and the right-hand track will once again play to the horse's strengths. The breeder has plenty more to look forward to than just the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe as he has a yearling and foal full-sibling to Torquator Tasso and Tunnes respectively at home.

HKJC Broadens German Link…

There will be hope among the German racing community that a number of its major races may soon feature in the World Pool series. After the Grosser Preis von Berlin being made available for those betting into the Hong Kong Jockey Club pools last month, a further three races from Baden-Baden on Sunday benefited from the same arrangement, including the day's feature, the Grosser Preis von Baden. This led to a busier race programme than usual for the finale at the Iffezheim track, with 12 races in total, starting from 11.15am. Not a day for the fainthearted.

…And American and German Links Deepen

Twenty-four hours after buying the top lot, a Kingman (GB) colt from Gestut Fahrhof, at BBAG's Yearling Sale on Friday, the Roth family's LNJ Foxwoods enjoyed Grade I glory at a different spa town, Saratoga, as the co-owner of the Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Olympiad (Speightstown) with Cheyenne Stables.

There could be a strong contingent with a German background at this year's Breeders' Cup, following the 'win and you're in' success of Virginia Joy (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) in the GII Flower Bowl S. for Peter Brant and Chad Brown. The 5-year-old mare joined Brown's stable last spring having previously been trained in Germany by Torquator Tasso's trainer Marcel Weiss for her breeder Gestut Auenquelle, which is also home to her sire, and previously to the sires of two of her first three dams, Doyen (GB) and Big Shuffle.

With the Gestut Ammerland-bred GI Beverley D S. winner Dalika (Ger) (Pastorius {Ger}) already being aimed towards the Breeders' Cup, and the possibility of Saturday's G2 T von Zastrow Stutenpreis winner Amazing Grace (Ger) (Protectionist {Ger}) sure to have a strong chance if she heads to the GI EP Taylor S. in October, it will not be a surprise to see more American visitors attending Germany's major yearling sale in the future. 

Minzaal Boosts Shadwell's Great Season

Of course, it hasn't all been happening in Germany this week. For Owen Burrows, the wheel of fortune has spun both ways this season, sometimes in a dizzying fashion, with Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) claiming the trainer's first Group 1 win in the Coronation Cup only to be ruled out of the rest of the season the next day, having picked up an injury in the race. 

As Britain's departing Prime Minister Boris Johnson likes to say, “Them's the breaks”. Burrows is an altogether much more honourable type of Englishman than Johnson, and it was therefore pleasing indeed to see him gain his second top-flight victory at the other end of the distance spectrum but for the same owner with Minzaal (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) in the G1 Sprint Cup at Haydock.

Hukum's brother Baaeed (GB) has gained all the plaudits this season, but he is far from the only star in the Shadwell constellation. Hukum and Minzaal have contributed to a hugely successful season for Sheikha Hissa Hamdan Al Maktoum, who also won the G3 September S. at Kempton on Saturday with the Gosden-trained homebred Mostahdaf (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and has another two exciting prospects in the Burrows stable in the Group 3-winning duo of Alflaila (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Anmaat (Ire) (Awtaad {Ire}).

The victory of Minzaal also provided a first Group 1 winner as breeder for Derek and Gay Veitch of Ringfort Stud, who have enjoyed some terrific seasons of late, including Minzaal's G2 Gimcrack S. win two years ago, which followed the success of Threat (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) in the same race a year earlier, while Group 2-winning fillies Indie Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Miss Amulet (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}) have also advertised the stud's credentials in recent years.

Ringfort Stud is selling two yearlings at the Tattersalls Somerville Sale on Tuesday, and interested parties will have to get in quick as the colts by first-season sires Phoenix Of Spain (Ire) and Inns Of Court (Ire) go through as lots 9 and 18 respectively. 

Vale, Jack de Bromhead

The racing and sales wheels keep turning in relentless fashion at this time of year but, absorbed as we all may be with this hectic scene, none of it really matters when set against the tragic accident at the Glenbeigh pony races on Saturday. That young Jack de Bromhead died doing what he loved will be of little comfort or consolation in these saddest of days to those who mourn his absence. To Jack's family and friends we offer our sincere condolences.

The post Seven Days: Triumph and Despair appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Stellar German Families in the Spotlight at BBAG

BADEN-BADEN, Germany–There has been much for German racing and breeding to celebrate since its premier yearling sale of 12 months ago. That same weekend, Torquator Tasso (Ger), a graduate of the 2018 sale, landed the G1 Grosser Preis von Baden just across the road from the auction house before going on to his memorable victory in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. A reminder, if one were needed, that German bloodlines can mix it with the very best in the world, as also exemplified recently by the GI Beverly D S. victrix Dalika (Ger) (Pastorius {Ger}).

Baden-Baden's 'Grosse Woche', which includes four days of racing action in Iffezheim, is in full swing again and culminates on Sunday with a repeat appearance from Torquator Tasso in the meeting's big race, in which he will take on this year's G1 German Derby winner Sammarco (Ire) (Camelot {GB}). The week is going well for Paul Vandeberg, who bred not only Torquator Tasso but his half-brother Tünnes (Ger) (Guiliani {Ger}), the one-time 2022 German Derby favourite who missed the early part of his Classic season through injury but bounced back in style with his easy victory in the Preis der BBAG Auktionsrennen on Wednesday afternoon.

Vandeberg has decided to keep hold of the yearling full-brother to the Arc winner, a colt made that bit more precious by the sad demise of his sire Adlerflug (Ger) in April 2021, but this year's Derby-winning breeder Helmut von Finck is offering the half-brother to Sammarco on Friday. The colt by the veteran of the German stallion ranks, Areion (Ger), features as lot 157. His dam Saloon Sold (Ger), by von Finck's hugely successful stallion Soldier Hollow (GB), won at two and three and earned listed black type before hitting the bullseye in producing a Classic winner as her first foal. Sammarco has also gone on to win the G1 Grosser Dallmayr-Preis over 10 furlongs against his elders since his Derby triumph.

“Winning the Derby with Sammarco was very special,” said von Finck at BBAG on Wednesday. “The auction company wanted to have his brother here but he is a late foal, born in May, and Areion is not such a commercial stallion so we do not expect a big price. If we cannot sell him we will keep him to race. We will see how the market is. Sammarco came here two years ago and people thought he was small but he wasn't too small to win the Derby.”

Gestut Park Wiedingen's draft of four homebreds also includes lot 39, a colt by Sea The Moon (Ger) who is a grandson of von Finck's Preis der Diana (German Oaks) winner Flamingo Road (Ger) (Acatenango {Ger}), as well as the first foal of champion 2-year-old Whispering Angel (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}). The filly is by the late Mastercraftsman (Ire) and is catalogued as lot 70.

“We have four very good horses,” von Finck continued. “A Sea The Moon from one of my favourite families of Flamingo Road, then we have a Soldier Hollow filly from Elvira (Ger), who is from a very good Rottgen family, and of course Soldier Hollow fillies are very interesting at the moment.”

He added, “I would like to think about involving partners or a syndicate in the future but no-one has spoken to me about this project. That's maybe the way we will go. I love my horses and I stand behind them.”

With Sammarco aiming for a third consecutive Group 1 victory on Sunday in the Grosser Preis, von Finck said he remains calm despite the big occasion.

“Obviously everything has to go well but he is in good shape and he is supposed to run, that”s what he was bred to do,” he said. “Of course Torquator Tasso will be hard to beat but I would be happy with second or third.”

Von Finck is also the breeder of Group 3 winner and Derby runner-up Destino (Ger)  (Soldier Hollow {GB}), who recently started his stud career at Gestut Westerberg and has his first yearlings for sale this year. His duo in the BBAG catalogue are both consigned by Peter and Aline Rodde's Gestut Westerberg, a pair of athletic colts who will sell at each end of the sale as lots 12 and 213.

Peter Rodde, overseeing his draft as the early viewers got to work, divulged that Destino, who is the only son of the 22-year-old Soldier Hollow at stud in Germany, had covered 27 mares in his first crop.

Another first-crop stallion very much aligned with Germany but with connections in Britain and Ireland is the Ballylinch Stud resident Waldgeist (GB), who is well-represented at BBAG, not least in the drafts of his co-breeders Gestut Ammerland and Gestut Fahrhof, the latter under the Jacobs family's former ownership of Newsells Park Stud, where the Arc winner was bred.

Waldgeist's nine yearlings in Baden-Baden include four of a five-strong draft from Ammerland, which recently enjoyed a terrific sale at Arqana in Deauville, selling six yearlings for a total of €2,375,000. Among its offerings here, lot 133 is a Waldgeist half-brother to the aforementioned Dalika, whose Grade I strike almost three weeks ago provided an important late update for the colt. There could yet be more to come from the Albert Stall-trained mare, who is now being primed for the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

A welcome burst of rain appeared overnight in Baden-Baden, bringing the temperature down to a reasonable working level as agents from overseas started to drift into the sales ground on Wednesday morning. Action abated for a while as racing got underway next door, with an update for lot 151, Haras de l'Hotellerie's filly by Bated Breath (GB), provided by her half-sister Noble Heidi (Fr) (Intello {Ger}), who was the easy winner of the Coolmore-sponsored Listed Baden-Baden Cup. Now four, the daughter of the Orpen mare Noble Pensee (Fr), already had bold black type to her name as the winner of the G3 Preis der Winterkonigin as a 2-year-old.

Germany's largest commercial stud, Gestut Fahrhof, perhaps understandably boasts the most international list of sires when it comes to the yearlings offered. Among its draft of 17 is the only colt by Frankel (GB) in the sale, lot 58 being a three-parts-brother to the G1 Premio Roma winner Potemkin (Ger) (New Approach {GB}). The Fahrhof consignment also contains first-crop fillies by Too Darn Hot (GB) and Study Of Man (Ire), as well as a colt by Kingman (GB) out of the listed winner Sarandia (Ger) (Dansili {GB}). Kingman has already done the Fahrhof team quite a favour in providing 'TDN Rising Star' Habana (Ger), who was another facile winner on the rain-softened ground at Baden-Baden as the 2-year-old filly posted a Group 3 victory in the stud's distinctive black and yellow silks in Wednesday's feature race, the Renate und Ulbrecht Woeste Zukunfts-Rennen.

For breeders and consignors at BBAG, it was important to keep an eye on both the racecourse and the sales grounds during the initial day of showing, but for the next two days the focus will be solely on selling this year's crop of yearlings, with the sale set to start at 10 a.m. on Friday. We've seen some vibrant trade at BBAG in recent years, including a record-breaking top lot of €820,000 in 2019, which was equalled 12 months later even in the midst of a pandemic. It seems reasonable to expect another strong session on Friday, especially while German-breds continue to advertise the strength of the brand on a worldwide stage.

The post Stellar German Families in the Spotlight at BBAG appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Torquator Tasso Leads Eight for Grosser Preis von Baden

Torquator Tasso (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) remains in contention for Sunday's G1 Grosser Preis von Baden following the latest confirmation stage on Monday.

The 5-year-old defending champion could face up to seven rivals in his first race with Frankie Dettori in the saddle. His regular rider Rene Piechulek is required to ride Mendocino (Ger) Adlerflug {Ger}). 

Also in the potential line-up for Sunday's feature is the German Derby winner Sammarco (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), who followed up his Classic success with victory in the G1 Grosser Dallmayr Preis. 

Twelve months ago, Torquator Tasso beat last year's German Derby winner Sisfahan (Ger) (Isfahan {Ger}) to land Baden-Baden's big race en route to his famous victory in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. 

The post Torquator Tasso Leads Eight for Grosser Preis von Baden appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights